Mount Olympus to Manoa Middle Ridge

by kenji SAITO on July 14, 2012

Waahila State Park was wide open and empty as I pulled my solitary self into the parking lot at 6:45am to hike the last piece needed to complete the Eastern part of the Koolaus from Makapuu to Lanihuli.

First Clearing

Going into the hike, scenic views of Manoa Valley quickly opened up. The good thing about this trail, is that your car does most of the early climbing as you wind your way up through Saint Louis Heights to get to the trailhead.

Second Clearing

After passing the first clearing, the trail splits into the Kolowalu Trail which descends down into Manoa Valley and the Upper Waahila Trail which takes you to Mount Olympus. I’m not sure if the Upper Waahila Trail is sanctioned or not, as the sign implores hikers to turn back. But turning back was not on the table today.

Third Clearing

The cloud ceiling started to get lower as I made my way to the third clearing. I was hoping that the views at the top would not be blanketed in clouds.

Windward panoramic view from the summit

Made it to the top of Mount Olympus in two hours to be greeted by relatively cloud free views of both sides of the island. Click here to see the larger image.

Koolau Summit Ridge Trail

I climbed back down to the foot of the peak from Mount Olympus to find the trail that would take me to the Manoa Middle Ridge. The trail coming down the hill was very muddy and wet, which led to major butt sliding all the way down.

Looking back towards Mt. Olympus

One hour was spent hiking on the ridge from Mount Olympus to Manoa Middle Ridge. But what a windy hour it was! The wind was blowing hard enough that I resorted to crawling on all fours on the narrow parts of the ridge to avoid being blown off.

Coming down Manoa Middle Ridge

Click here to see the larger image of the view coming down from Manoa Middle Ridge.

Jackson Chameleon

This is the first time that I ran across a Jackson Chameleon in the wild. A female one at that, as only males have the distinctive triple horns on their heads.

Waiakeakua Stream

After crossing Waiakeakua stream and passing several Chinese Fan Palm trees, I spotted the ribboned branches that led me up the hill. Pushing my way uphill through these small but numerous trees made me frustrated and tired. I eventually made it to the Puu Pia trail at the top of the hill and turned right until the trail ended in a clearing with a bench. From that point on, the trail was heavily overgrown and in need of extensive clearing by those good samaritans at the HTMC. I eventually made it out to Alani Drive after six hours of hiking and called 422-2222 to take my dirty and tired butt back to Waahila State Park.